Compacting device



H. SCHWEER COMPA Filed Dec. 25, 1962 CTING DEVICE May 4, 1960 UnitedStates Patent Office 3,069,995 Patented Dec. 25, 1962 3,069,995CQMPACTKNG DEVICE Herman Schweer, Greendale, Wis., assignor to Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis. Filed May 4, 1969, Ser.No. 26,825 2 Claims. (Cl. 99237) This invention relates in general toroller mills and in particular to roller mills of the type usedtoproduce sheet and flake products.

When compacting material in a roller mill, it sometimes becomesnecessary to force feed the material to the rolls. This is especiallytrue when compacting low density materials, for example cornstarch,because flufliness of the material enables the material to remainsuspended above the rolls. Only by creating a pressure such as by meansof a force feeder, to force such material through the rolls, is itpossible to compact these materials. In a like manner force feeding maybe used for compacting high density material that resists flow throughthe rolls.

It is desirable that the sheets and flakes produced be uniform. Forinstance, in the manufacture of breakfast foods, if the flakes of cerealwere not of uniform thickness, it would not be possible to evenly toastthe flakes, resulting in a breakfast food having flakes that were rawand burnt.

Force feeding the material to the rolls does not always yield a uniformproduct. A problem arises in that the air and moisture entrained in thematerial becomes entrapped at the nip of the rolls. The entrapped air ormoisture will build up at the nip preventing portions of material frompassing through the rolls and when the entrapped fluids build up enoughto be forced through the rolls, a blow hole or void will be formed inthe compacted product.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a novelcompacting machine that produces a uniform product.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel escape means incompacting machines for enabling entrapped gas and liquid to escape.

It is another object of this invention to provide a novel escape vanefor entrapped gases and liquids that will not hinder or obstruct theflow of material to the rolls.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel escape ventfor entrapped fluids that can be adjusted for various materials fed intoa roller mill.

In the preferred embodiment of this invention a hollow vane is placedwithin a feed bin. The feed bin is placed to deliver feed to a pair ofrolls. The vane is suspended within the bin to extend into the rollvalley just above the nip of the rolls. The vane extends longitudinallyparallel to the axis of the rolls, a distance substantially equal to thelength of the rolls that receives material from the feed bin. The sidesof the vane that are thus substantially parallel to the roll axis aresmooth and taper inwardly toward the nip to thereby present astreamlined surface for guiding flow of material to the nip and yetenabling the vane to be positioned in the valley close to the nip. Thebottom of the vane is open, defining an entranceway for fluids, such asair and water, entrapped above the nip. The lower edges of the vane areequipped with several screws so that the size of the entranceway may beadjusted. In this manner variations of entrained fluid content betweenvarious material may be provided for by making appropriate adjustmentsto the entrance opening. The inner side surfaces of the vane taperoutward in the direction away from the nip to thereby define a uniformlyexpanding escape passageway. Since the rolls squeeze entrained fluid outof the material passing therebetween, the fluid is entrapped between thenip and the pressures of the force feeder toward the nip. Therefore thefluid is under pressure as it enters the vane, and since the escapepassageway affords a uniformly increasing volume of space in a directionaway from the nip,.

the fluid will expand into the passageway and be induced to flow outwardfrom the nip.

Objects and advantages other than those above set forth will be apparentfrom the following description when read in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a compacting machine having a bleedervane;

FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of line II-II of FIG. 1 showinga single roll of a pair journaled in schematic bearings together withsectional portions of a bleeder vane, and a feed bin; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the vane shown in FIG. 1,displaying in detail an adjustable entranceway.

With reference to the drawings and FIG. 1 in particular, a pair ofparallel compacting rolls 10, 11 is shown operative for use in acompacting machine of the type used to produce flaked and sheetproducts. A roll valley indicated at 14 and a nip indicated at 15 areformed between the surfaces of the roll as illustrated. The rolls 10, 11rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows of FIG. 1 so thatmaterial fed therebetween may be com pacted into sheets and flakes.

A feed means such as a feed bin 18 structurallyshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 ispositioned above the rolls 10, 11 to direct material into the rolls forcompaction. As illustrated, the bin 18 may be flange connected to asupply conduit 19 supplying material under pressure from a force feeder(not shown).

Since a force feeder rather than gravity may be relied upon to feedmaterial to the rolls 10, 11, application of this invention is notlimited only to compacting machines having a pair of horizontallydisplaced rolls. In fact, the rolls l6, 1]. shown in a preferredembodiment in the drawings may be taken to be disposed along any planeincluding a vertical plane. Therefore, it is not meant to limit thisinvention to a roller mill having horizontal rolls.

A tapered hollow bleeder vane 26 is positioned in the valley 1 3 betweenthe rolls Iii, 11 to afford an escape passageway 21 for vapors entrappedat the nip 15. The vane 2%) may be fashioned out of a single rectangularsheet 22 of metal bent to the cross sectional configuration shown inFIGS. 1 and 3. The opposed open ends of the sheet 22 are enclosed by endpieces 23. The end pieces 23 may include a circular flange portion 24and a tapered portion 25 which as illustrated may be fixed to theopposed ends of the sheet 22 in any suitable manner, such as by welding,thereby providing a hollow tapered escape passageway 21 within the vane20. An exit opening 26 may be provided in each flanged portion 24. Thispreferred embodiment of the vane is then supported by the flangeportions 24 and suspended from the feed bin 18 as shown in FIGS. 1 and2. As illustrated, a pair of exit ducts 27 may be connected to theflange portions 24 at exit openings 26 to provide an outlet forentrapped fluids. In some cases it may be desirable to attach some meansas a suction pump (not shown) to create a negative pressure, and therebyfacilitate exit of the fluid. The tapered portion 25 of the end pieces23 have a gradual taper ending at apex 28. As FIGS. 1 and 3 illustrate,the sides of sheet 22 extend past apex 28 of the tapered portions 25 toprovide lips 30 having a mouth opening 31 defined between them. Becauseof the inherent resiliency and flexibility of the material used in sheet22 to form the sides of the vane 20, it is possible to adjust the sizeof the mouth opening 31 by moving the lips 30 apart or toward eachother. This is accomplished in the preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 2and 3 by means of several screws 33 spaced along the lips 30. By turningthe screws 33, the lips 30 may be drawn together or separated to therebyadjust the mouth opening 31.

In the operation of this machine, the material to be compacted is fedunder pressure from a force feeder (not shown) through a conduit 19 tothe feed bin 18. The material will flow past the streamline surfaces ofthe tapered bleeder vane 20 and be guided toward the rolls 10, 11. Thematerial will feed into the nip and through the rolls 10, 11 emerging asa uniform compacted product. Any fluid squeezed out of the material andentrapped at the nip 15 may escape into mouth opening 31 between lips 30of the vane 20, through the escape passageway 21 and out exit openings26 to exit conduits 27 As such fluid is under a pressure from the forcefeeder greater than atmospheric pressure, the fluid will readily escapeinto the atmosphere. However, in some cases it may be desirable toprovide a suction pump to improve flow of entrapped fluid out throughthe vane.

Because of different fluid contents of various materials to becompacted, it is sometimes desirable that the mouth opening 31 beadjustable to take into account such differences. For example, whencompacting a material having a small fluid content, the mouth opening 31can be diminished in size by tightening the screws 33 thereby drawingthe lips 30 together.

Although but a single embodiment of the present invention has beenillustrated and described, it will be apparent'to those skilled in theart that various changes and modifications will be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having 'now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and the manner in which it is to be performed, 'I declare thatwhat I claim is:

1. A roller mill for making sheet and flake products from pressurizedmaterial having fluid entrained therewith comprising: apair ofjuxtapositioned rolls cooperable to compact material fed therebetween,said rolls forming a feed valley and nip therebetween, and said rollsdefining a plane bordering said valley and tangent each of said rolls;feed means including wall structure enclosing a space leading to saidrolls for delivering said material under pressure to said valley; and atapered hollow vane positioned within said feed means and in said valleybetween said rolls to define a continuous taper located between saidplane and said nip for guiding said material past said vane to said nip,said vane defining an escape passageway having a mouth opening, saidmouth including a pair of adjustable lips and means to adjust said lipsfor opening and closing said mouth opening, said passageway between saidplane and said nip tapering outward from said nip defining acontinuously expanding vent promoting outward flow of entrained fluid insaid material.

2. A roller mill for making sheet and flake products from pressurizedmaterial having fluid entrained therewith comprising a pair ofjuxtapositioned rolls cooperable to compact material fed therebetween,said rolls forming a feed valley and nip therebetween, and said rollsdefining a plane bordering said valley and tangent each of said rolls;feed means including wall structure enclosing a space leading to saidrolls for delivering said material under pressure to said valley; and atapered hollow vane positioned within said feed means and in said valleybetween said rolls to define a continuous taper located between saidplane and said nip for guiding said material past said vane to said nip,said vane defining an escape passageway having a mouth opening, saidmouth including a pair of adjustable lips and a screw operative toadjust said lips for opening and closing said mouth opening, saidpassageway below said plane tapering outward from said nip to provide acontinuously expanding vent facilitating flow outward of said entrainedgas.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,118,856 Hawk Nov. 24, 1914 1,187,702 Boss June 20, 1916 1,188,323Richardson June 20, 1916 2,340,456 Dinley Feb. 1, 1944 2,533,550Blackwell Dec. 12, 1950

